Tredje AP fonden Sells 35,163 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Tredje AP fonden cut its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 50.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 35,163 shares during the quarter. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in NiSource by 153.2% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in NiSource in the third quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Eastern Bank raised its position in NiSource by 1,242.2% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 2,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NI opened at $39.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $38.35 and a 200-day moving average of $36.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.25 and a 1 year high of $41.44.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s payout ratio is presently 69.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total value of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, NiSource currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.13.

NiSource Profile

NiSource Inc, an energy holding company, operates as a regulated natural gas and electric utility company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Gas Distribution Operations and Electric Operations. The company distributes natural gas to approximately 3.3 million customers through approximately 55,000 miles of distribution main pipeline and the associated individual customer service lines; and 1,000 miles of transmission main pipeline in northern Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland.